#VoiceSA pushed winner Craig Lucas off his anxious mountain

“Before The Voice I had never gotten on a stage before,” said The Voice SA season two winner Craig Lucas. “I suffered from really bad anxiety for a long time.”

“I love singing but I could just never do it. I never wanted to wear flashy clothes because I felt like an imposter. All of that has changed now.”

“The Voice pushed me out of my comfort zone.”

“I was standing at the edge of the mountain and The Voice SA kicked me off and I fell into life.”

The viewing public voted more than 1.6 million times and 23-year old Craig Lucas from Elsies River won the season two title.

It was also revealed that Craig was not involved in the social media voting improprieties that were announced in the last few weeks of the competition, during the press briefing after the show.

Coach Kahn Morbee produces the show’s number one singer two years in a row

With Craig’s victory, Parlotones front man Kahn Morbee also clinched the title of winning coach for the second year in a row.

“Craig exposes his soul when he sings,” said coach Morbee. “You feel like you are really getting to know him in a two minute version of a pop song. That characteristic is very rare and his personality resonates through his voice. You can teach someone to sing but you can’t teach them that.”

“Craig speaks of being fearful but he is fearless in revealing his soul and that is what I connected with in his voice.”

Craig, who was one of the audience favourites right from the start, made his first foray into singing on stage with his soulfulThe Voice SA Blind Audition of “House of The Rising Sun”. While music has always been his passion he first had to keep his promise to his mother – to complete his studies.

The new Voice of South Africa now holds an honours degree in Finance from the University of Cape Town. During each round of the competition Craig wowed the audience with his unique interpretations of popular songs, demonstrating why coach Kahn called him “the love child of John Legend and Freddy Mercury”.

On top of nabbing a coveted record deal from Universal Music South Africa, Craig walked off with the following fabulous prizes from The Voice SA sponsors:

R250 000 in cash from dialdirect;

From Samsung, a Gear S3 smart watch, a Galaxy S8 smart phone, a Gear VR, a 360 camera, a Gear iconiX set and a 65 inch KS9500 SUHD TV;

A Subaru Impreza 2.0 Premium CVT;

R100 000 of fashion from Truworths.

Deloitte and Touche independently computed the voting figures for The Voice SA and these stats will be made available to the public later this week.

Viewers can also visit www.mnet.tv/thevoice for exclusive interviews with the coaches and talent, and follow all the breaking news and conversations around the show on Twitter @VoiceSA / #TheVoiceSA or on the official “Voice SA” Facebook page.